Duh! I'm stupid. I have one of them for my VX-5. I think I'll need a new drop in charger for the new radio because the battery on the VX-8 is different from the VX-5. Probably because the new radio is also alittle thinner than the VX-5.

"If it's not available yet, how can anyone have an _objective_ opinion on it? "

Because some of us have handled one already. I got to handle the one on display in Dayton, but could not push the buttons on the keypad, (they were hand painted and not production quality. My feed back would be I liked the eronomics of it. It feel broader than a VX7 but maybe thinner. I liked how it felt in my hand. Not that the VX7 is bad, but the 8 felt better.

Looking at the info, it seems that the two main weaknesses of the VX-7R have been carried forward to the VX-8R -- lack of a squelch knob and that crummy, itty-bitty SMA connector.

Dunno about anyone else, but on everything but the VX-7R, I use the squelch knob as much as the volume knob (hey, wait, now you have a volume BUTTON???).

Also, the SMA is fragile and not made for a lot of connect/disconnect cycles. The BNC is more robust and useful, and doesn't take any more space on the HT than the SMA and the antenna, so what's the advantage?

Both of those "features" make the radio seem to be designed for "Set it up then set it down" operation. Hook up the antenna, find the squelch setting that works, then don't change them.

I don't see anything in the VX-8R to make me want to replace the VX-7Rs that I'm using.

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